The sight of construction cranes dotting the Houston landscape, the huge "We're Hiring" banners all around town, and the anecdotal tales of houses getting sold so fast that "For Sale" signs aren't even necessary are having a psychological effect on Houston.

We're upbeat. We're cheerful. And that confidence in job security and economic stability has made Houston the must-be location for retailers, home builders and any other industry that wants to hitch a ride on the back of Houston's prosperity.

Thanks to our booming oil and gas industry, which includes the critical energy-related manufacturing sector, along with our vibrant health care industry and export market, Houston's job growth is the envy of the nation.

And the word is spreading. Newcomers, lured no doubt by the stories of Houston's boom-boom economy, are easy to spot with their out-of-state license plates.

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We asked four experts for their take on where Houston is and where it's going: a real estate analyst, a banker, a chamber executive and an economist. This is what they said:

Q: What word would you use to describe the Houston economy?

A: "Thriving," said Pankaj Dhume, president of the Indo-American Chamber of Commece of Greater Houston.

"If you go to other places in the country, you don't see the energy among the people and the community," he said, pointing to the construction he sees all over the region. Home sales are up and the number of houses on the market is low.

Kim Ruth, president of the Houston and Texas market for Bank of America, believes "bustling" says it all.

There is tremendous activity across so many sectors, said Ruth, pointing to the busy restaurants and frequent traffic jams.

The influx of newcomers, she said, has stimulated activity in the single- and multi-family real estate market.

It's "Texas-sized," said Daron Peschel, vice president in charge of the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

"There is no denying the impact of the shale revolution on our region," he said, referring to the technological advances that have led to prolific oil and gas discoveries.

Texas is outperforming the nation in several ways, Peschel said. The state boasts a job creation rate about twice the nationwide average, high marks when it comes to business climate and better-than-average credit ratings.

Q: What sectors are doing especially well in Houston?

A: Value retail, which includes Walmart, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less and Dollar General, for cost-conscious shoppers, said Naveen Jaggi, senior managing director for CBRE retail services for the Americas.

So are grocery- anchored shopping centers that feature big stores such as H-E-B or Kroger as well as an array of smaller stores that offer personal services such as dry cleaning, optometry and affordable fashion.

That combination is popular, he said.

"Obviously, energy has performed especially well," Peschel said.

That, in turn, has helped to boost the export sector, which has been shipping Houston-made chemicals, petrochemicals and oil and gas field equipment around the world.

Texas surpassed California as the biggest exporting state about a decade ago; while the global economy has dampened exports, the sector continues to make a big contribution to Houston's economy, he said.

The Texas Medical Center creates its own gravitational force, Dhume said. Patients and researchers come to Houston from around the world.

Q: What parts of Houston's economy are lagging?

A: East Houston is not seeing a lot of growth, Jaggi said. And there is long-term concern over the Clear Lake area because of the downsizing of the Johnson Space Center.

Clear Lake was one of the leading markets from the 1960s through the 1980s - the stability of jobs was part of its lure - but now the community is facing the end of NASA's shuttle program.

The new Tanger Outlets in Texas City, however, is a magnet for new development, he added.

"It's a question mark," Jaggi said.

Nationally, sequestration is expected to shave a little more than 0.2 percentage point off the gross domestic product this year, Peschel said, but at the regional level it's more difficult to estimate. About 15 percent of jobs in Texas are tied to local and state government, while federal employment represents only 2 percent.

"So while sequestration will dent regional growth, especially on the back of the Johnson Space Center and Texas Medical Center, the impact will be less than those areas of the state with a greater dependency on federal spending," Peschel said.

Lagging may be too strong a word, but Ruth said she's concerned with the uncertainty swirling about the regulatory environment in health care.

Physicians are looking at how the new Medicare reimbursements will affect them, while hospitals are looking at cost containment and ways they can be more efficient.

Q: With job growth strong in Houston, are consumers feeling a little more free here than they are in other parts of the U.S.?

A: If you go to other parts of the United States, you don't see the crowds or shopping as much as you see in Houston, Dhume said.

"I think what's happening here is that people feel relatively safe," he said, referring to the economy. In other parts of the nation where job growth is lagging, they're still nervous.

"It's all psychological," he said.

All that new housing construction will also trigger home expenditures for items like furniture and major appliances, Ruth said. New grocers moving in include Sprouts Farmers Market, Trader Joe's and Aldi.

"They probably wouldn't be moving in unless they saw the potential," she said.

Q: Where are gasoline prices headed, and what does that mean for Houston?

A: Stable gasoline prices are critical to Houston's economy, Dhume said. It drives exploration and production as well as refining and marketing.

But where are they headed?

"If I knew that, I would be better than Warren Buffett, but I'm not," he said.

Stable gasoline prices are also important for consumers.

Houstonians are accustomed to getting into their car and going places rather than relying on buses or trains, Jaggi said. They need affordable costs to drive, and if fuel prices spike, they won't be able to shop as often.

Q: If our current weather patterns hold and Houston faces another big drought this summer, how will that affect our local and statewide economy?

A: "I think back to the drought two years ago and it was combined with a lot of heat," recalled Ruth, who believes that Houstonians will cut back on their weekend activities and entertainment.

When it's that hot outside, she said, it's hard to take nature walks or go boating.

And that's not just because of the stifling heat - the water levels in Lake Conroe and other nearby recreation areas fell during the last drought which hampered water activities, Ruth said.

A prolonged drought is also expected to drive up food prices.

In 2011, Texas suffered agricultural losses of about $7.6 billion, which represented more than 40 percent of the state's average agricultural receipts, and the sharpest decline in the state's cattle population in 75 years, Peschel said.

So far, Texas isn't off to a good start this year, he said, citing the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor that reports that 98.7 percent of the state is in one of the five levels of drought.